


TV Tropes: Mass Effect/After Earth Chronicles

by Rafael



Series: Mass Effect: After Earth Chronicles [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: AU, Gen, TV Tropes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-28
Updated: 2013-05-30
Packaged: 2017-12-13 05:07:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/820338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rafael/pseuds/Rafael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SPOILER ALERT!</p>
<p>I haven’t troped a story of mine in a long time and wanted to try my hand at it again. This page will contain spoilers on the Mass Effect series as well as my stories based on that universe. Feel free to catch up with the first campaign of After Earth Chronicles here ( http://archiveofourown.org/works/789389/chapters/1490648) as well as News from the Mass Effect Universe (http://archiveofourown.org/works/789404/chapters/1490717), then come back and see if the tropes fit the story so far.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

*   
**Abnormal Ammo** : We only see the effects of Theo's use of Inferno ammo on batarians raiders in the first chapter, but all characters use different ammo types according to their[ write-ups](http://ralfast.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/mass-effectafter-earth-chronicles-character-profiles/).
  

*   
 **Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene** : Most of the action scenes are followed by quieter moments in which the characters reflect on recent events.
  

*   
 **Action Girl** : TRS employs plenty of female mercenaries who, while briefly mentioned, seem to be in equal standing to the men. Captain Galeena T'iala also proves her resourcefulness under fire.
  

*   
 **Alien Arts Are Appreciated** : A negative example. The hanar representative complains that contact with the batarians has "infected" members of their race and induced them to violence through conversion into a Collector/Reaper worshiping cult.
  

*   
 **All Planets are Earth Like** : While some planets are ideal for human colonization and have earth-like atmosphere and climate, other locations are far more hostile or bizarre, like a post Reaper Invasion Camala whose atmosphere is full of dust-form eezo, or a space station built for aquatic hanar which is described as a "fish tank in reverse".
  

*   
 **All There in the Manual:** The story is based on a "[fix-fic](http://ralfast.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/mass-effect-3-the-last/)" about the ending of Mass Effect 3. There is also plenty of information about the universe [on a series of parallel news reports(ANN News Stories)](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8480473/1/Mass-Effect-After-Earth-ChroniclesNews-Stories) set on the same timeline and [character profiles](http://ralfast.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/mass-effectafter-earth-chronicles-character-profiles/).
  

*   
 **Always Chaotic Evil** : Subverted with the batarians, who have abolitinist among their numbers, and the krogan, one of which is shown to be very savvy about Bekenstien's socioeconomic elite. Played straight with bartarians terrorist/slavers.
  

*   
 **Ape Shall Never Kill Ape** : In keeping with Mass Effect lore, members of a species will fight and kill each other for the same reasons humans would.
  

*   
 **Attack It's Weak Point** : Theo tries to do this against the batarian gunship, but Rodan shoots it down before he takes the shot. In the Battle of Korlus/Imri Relay he orders the fighters to target the enemy thrusters.
  

*   
 **Badass Crew** : The "Command Crew" of T-R Security. Each excels at their job and is not afraid to get into the thick of it.
  

*   
 **Bash Brothers/Siblings** : Seems to be the whole basis for the Theo/Galeena relationship. Each knows what the other can do in a fight and respects the other. Theo is the only one to tease Galeena, in spite of the risk of her using biotics to slam him into the nearest bulkhead/wall.
  

*   
 **BFG** : Although only seen in the first chapter, the Black Widow rifle is an anti-materiel rifle, designed to destroy armored vehicles.
  

*   
 **Bilingual Bonus** : Theo sometimes slips into his native Spanish. It tends to double as **Foreign Cuss Words**.
  

*   
 **Bodyguard Babes** : Galeena doubles as one during the events of Investors/Assassination and has been a bodyguard in the past, according to her bio. Although considering Theo's combat prowess she is more like a biotic backup than a full time bodyguard. She does act like one for the survivors of the attack as they escape the mercenaries attacking the mansion.
  

*   
 **Body Horror** : Hinted at what batarians do to their slaves, the Reapers to their troops and the batarian blood plague experiments on human subjects in their labs.
  

*   
 **Boom, Headshot** : What happens when Theo shoots batarians with his Black Widow sniper rifle loaded with inferno rounds.
  

*   
 **Brainwashed and Crazy** : Discussed while talking about Had'dah's mad rantings of "gods in dark spaces", but they find no proof of brainwashing but plenty of proof about the crazy.
  

*   
 **The Bridge** : The _Daedalus_ command center. Justified in that the ship was built as an assault carrier and command ship.
  

*   
 **Bullying a Dragon** : One wonders what would have happened if the terrorist had not gone after Theo at the investors' meeting.
  

*   
 **By-the Book Cop** : Detective Cruz of the Milgrom Police Department has shades of this, but she is willing to play ball if it gets her results.
  

*   
 **The Calvary/Gunship Rescue:** Seems to be Rodan Quintus raison d'être. Then again, he is the firm's chief pilot and his job is to provide air support for the ground troops so coming in the nick of time is part of the job description.
  

*   
 **Casual Interstellar Travel** : FTL and mass relays allow for fast travel across the galaxy, but the time stamps suggest that it may still take hours or even days to reach some destinations.
  

*   
 **Chekov's Gunman/The Bus Came Back** : The batarian survivor of the raid on Arborea appears in the first chapter and gets a mention in the second, but we don't learn his name until the second to last chapter of the Terminus campaign.
  

*   
 **Cold Sniper/Friendly Sniper** : Theo preferred weapon is the Black Widow sniper rifle and he enters a zen-like state he calls the "Zone" when ever he is in battle. However, he is more of a sharpshooter rather than the lone sniper, as he often deploys teams of shooters in support of ongoing operations. He is also fairly personable outside combat.
  

*   
 **Continuity Nod** : Verging on **Continuity Porn**. Many worlds come straight from the in-game Codex such as Bekenstein, Camala and Korlus. Theo mentions Torfan, which is one of the possible background options for Commander Shepard and the in-universe news reports are filled with references to the games and expanded universe.
  

*   
 **Conviction by Contradiction** : Played with. Detective Cruz baits Mr. Andorff into insisting that he did no wrong, then switches on the light that eliminates the one-side mirror effect in the interrogation room revealing some of the survivors of the attack on the Steiner mansion. Andorff changed his tune quickly after that.
  

*   
 **Combat Pragmatis** t: Theo's preferred combat style. He will ambush, snipe and bomb any target if it is the most efficient way to get the job done. Combines this with **Crazy Prepared** and often leads to some **Curb Stomp** moments.
  

*   
 **Corrupt Corporate Executive** : Mr. Andorff who sold out his fellow executives to the batarian terrorist by telling them about the location of the investor's meeting and Altiari Had'dah, the man behind the assassination attempt and main financial backer of batarian terrorists.
  

*   
 **Crapsack Galaxy:** The ANN news report show that while many places rebuilt after the war with the Reapers, it is a slow and ongoing process, entire races were left homeless and that the Citadel core worlds, such as Earth, depend entirely on food shipments from the colonies. The asari are locked in a civil war, the salarians are now largely isolationist. Piracy, slavery and terrorism is on the rise.
  

*   
 **Crazy Prepared** : Theo likes to be prepared for every situation, including carefully planning an ambush using sharpshooters, mechs and gunship support, escort a planetary assault with fighter squadrons and go into a meeting of investors accompanied by an asari commando/huntress.
  

*   
 **Curb Stomp Battle** : When ever Theo has a chance to plan out a mission ahead of time, the fight usually ends up like this. But when he doesn't have the time or intel it turns into a fight for his life.
  

*   
 **Death World** : Camala, full stop. A batarian colony used by the Reapers as a base for converting captured civilians into body horror troops. The whole surface is scared with massive craters from orbital bombardment and the air all the way to the stratosphere is choke full of toxic dust form element zero, a compound that is highly carcinogenic.
  

*   
 **Deadpan Snarker** : Theo, Galeena and Rodan have shades of this.
  

*   
 **Decontamination Chamber** : They are mentioned during and after the mission to Camala due to the toxic nature of dust born element zero.
  

*   
 **Distressed Damsel** : Mrs. Steiner and Malena Dantius, as non-combatants, fit the bill during the evens of _Assassination_.
  

*   
 **Disproportionate Retribution** : Hinted at with the words, "Kil l'em all," which seems connected to the events of Torfan.
  

*   
 **Drives/Flies Like Crazy** : Invoked in the chase scene in _Assassination_. Then again, flying straight in an aircar while under attack by enemy gunships is a sure fire way to end up dead.
  

*   
 **Drop Ships** : Extensive use of shuttles in different missions to carry troops to and from orbit. Gunships are also shown to have a similar capability.
  



	2. Mass Effect/After Earth Chronicles Tropes E-H

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More tropes for you. As always, remember that this is chock full of spoilers so check out the original stories in my folder then come back and see if they match their tropes listings.

**Tropes E - K:**

  * **Escape Pods** : What the batarian informant uses to escape the doomed slaver ship and also used by the crews of the cruisers _Ajax_ and _Achilles_ in _Stand_.
  * **Explosive Breeder** : The ANN News reports mention that an agreement between the krogan and the Council is conditioned on the krogan employing strict population control.
  * **Faceless Goons** : The batarians on Camala, on account of wearing full environmental suits with helmets outside the refinery. Theo gets close enough to crack their wireless networks and ID Had'dah.
  * **Facial Markings** : Galeena and Rodan sport them. Galeena's are gold flecks while Rodans sports platinum face paint.
  * **Fantastic Drug** : Red Sand made from element zero is very lucrative and it is linked to the batarian terrorists.
  * **Faster-than-Light Travel** : Another mainstay of the Mass Effect universe. Combined with **Portal Network**.
  * **Fighting for a Homeland** : It seems to be one of the batarian abolitionist goals after the destruction of the batarian homeworld during the Reaper invasion.
  * **Fire, Ice, Lightning** : Theo's preferred ammo mod is called inferno, which a form of incideary ammo (high temperature rounds that set things they hit on fire) and he wields a pair of electrified omni-blades which can stun or kill opponents.
  * **Fixed Forward Facing Weapon** : Fighters, gunships and cruisers have their main armament facing forward. Averted with armed transports and carriers whose systems are designed to engage smaller targets like missiles or fighters.
  * **Frickin' Laser Beams** : The GARDIAN anti-fighter/anti-missile lasers appear in the opening and closing chapters of the Terminus campaign.
  * **From Bad to Worse** : What happens when Theo gets the news of the batarian blood plague. It turns a difficult situation (stopping the terrorist from escaping) into a desperate one (stopping them from killing millions with a biological WMD).
  * **Gargle Blaster** : Ryncol, the krogan's drink of choice. Mr. Turok orders a glass at the bar in the Steiner mansion.
  * **Glass Cannon** : Pirate ships carry a lot of firepower but lack armor. Demonstrated when the batarian terrorist fleet meets turian and human cruisers. They inflict heavy damage but at a lost of two or even three ships lost per cruiser damaged/destroyed.
  * **Gender is no Object** : Most employers from TRS on down hire both men and women
  * . **Green Rocks** : Element zero, which enables such things as FTL and artificial gravity.
  * **Good is not Sof** t: Theo is more than willing to kill every slaver he meets and orders everyone on the refinery's platform killed except for Had'dah. He also has no problem letting a krogan in full blood rage go after his enemies.
  * ****
  * **Global Currency** : Credits are the only currency mentioned or used across all of Citadel space.
  * **Hand Cannon** : Galeena's weapon of choice (beside her biotics) is the M-6 Carnifex Hand Cannon. Exactly what it says on the tin.
  * **Healing Factor** : How Mr. Turok (a krogan) survives multiple explosions, gets up and goes charging after the enemy. It is said that he spent some time healing after the battle.
  * **Healing Potion** : Medi-Gel is used to treat injuries but unlike the game, major trauma, like broken bones, require extensive bed rest.
  * **Hold the Line** : The TR security forces make a desperate stand against the incoming terrorist fleet. As it is common in these types of scenarios, they take heavy casualties.
  * **Holographic Terminal** : Common interface in the Mass Effect universe.
  * **Humans are Leaders** : Again, supplementary material highlights how humanity takes a bigger role in galactic affairs after the Reaper invasion, alongside the turian. Both races fill the void left by the salarian (mild) isolationism and the asari civil war.
  * **Humorless Aliens** : As demonstrated [by this news article of a hanar comedian](http://ralfast.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/mass-effectaecalliance-news-network-elo-hits-the-citadel/) whose comedy is based on his species lack of humor and extreme politeness. It receives death threats that are so well crafted and elegant that C-Sec dismisses them as just fancy hate mail.
  * **Idiosyncratic Episode Naming** : All chapters in the series (thus far) have had one word titles related to the substance of the chapter.
  * **Improbable Age** : Averted. All named characters have avoided this. The youngest is Pasha, who is twenty five by the start of the series. Even Galeena, who is a member of a species known for the one thousand year old lifespan is in her 300s which makes her a full adult.
  * **Infant Immortality** : Although no children are seen during the Terminus campaign, it is clear that children have been victimized by the Reaper invasion as well as by slaver raids.
  * **In the Future Humans Will Be One Race** : Zigzagged. Other species treat humanity this way, but we still see some racial, ethnic and national divisions among humans.
  * **If My Calculations Are Correct** : Pasha's analysis of the data extracted from the Camala refinery sounds something like this.
  * **Ill Boy** : Pasha, who is a Quarian, often wears his environmental suit even in breathable atmosphere. It takes him several days for his immune system to become acclimated to specific environment,> After that he can remove his helmet and breathe normally.
  * **Interspecies Romance** : Galeena (who is an asari, a species that can mate with any othersspecies, regardless of sex) lost her human wife during the war.
  * **Insignificant Blue Plane** t: The Reaper war elevated Earth's importance since it was the place that an unified galaxy turned the tide against the Reapers, but the action in this series occurs in the Verge and the Terminus Systems.
  * **Intimidating Revenue Service** : The threat of paying taxes to the Alliance is used to convince some investors to back Theo's strategy for protecting shipping along the Terminus systems.
  * **Invisibility Cloak** : Theo has a cloaking mechanism built into his omni-tool that renders him invisible. Used in _Assassination_ and _Capture_ to get close to his target.
  * **It's Personal** : We never know if Theo was the target of the attack on the Steiner mansion, but he takes it personally none the less.
  * **Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better** : Energy weapons exists, but most weapons are of the kinetic type, from pistols to a cruiser's main armament.
  * **Kill 'em All** : Mentioned word for word in connection with Torphan. It seems to be some kind of memory that Theo carries about what happened there, but we don't know what it means.
  * **Kill it With Fire/Man on Fire** : Add inferno ammo to BFG and you get the burning batarian dance, if the head did not explode first, of course.




	3. Mass Effect/After Earth Chronicles Tropes L-P

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We now move on to the next part of the tropes seen and used in After Earth Chronicles (http://archiveofourown.org/works/789389/chapters/1490648). As always, this page contains spoilers for the Mass Effect series as well as the story linked above. Go ahead and read the story if you don't want to get spoiled and enjoy a good sci-fi yarn:

Tropes L-P

  * **Lizard Folk** : Drell and Krogan, the first as servants of the Hanar (a jellyfish alien race) and the second as warriors and, in _Investors_ , entrepreneurs.
  * **Loads and Loads of Characters** : Seems to be headed in that direction, at least with secondary/minor characters, not counting the news updates.
  * **Magic Tool** : Omini-Tool, an all in one personal wearable personal computer used by everyone with such functions as audio/video, real time communications, hacking and instant melee weapon.
  * **Mauve Shirts** : Everyone outside T-R Security's command crew. Many get names, but that neither deflects death or guarantees their survival in-universe.
  * **Mayfly-December Romance** : Galeena is an interesting example. Her bio tells us her father was an Salarian, the second shortest lived species in the galaxy and she married a human, which as of 2196, have an average life span among races in the galaxy.
  * **Mega Corp** : Many are mentioned, including the protagonist own company, Thompson-Ramos Security, which provides training and security services to entire colones throughout human space and in the Terminus Systems.
  * **The Metric System is Here to Stay** : The metric system is the standard system used through the series.
  * **Mildly Military** : Two principal characters, Galeena and Theo are often refereed by rank (Captain and Colonel respectively) but since they are part of a mercenary company, these double as titles. Others don't have them or don't use them. Saluting is more a sign of respect/acceptance of orders than a formal greeting within the company.
  * **Military Science Fiction.**
  * **The Milky Way is the Only Way** : While Faster Than Light travel exists, the sheer size of the galaxy demands that a combination of FTL and portal system (the mass relay) be used to travel across it. Also, it may take months, even years to reach areas that are not near any know relays, so while the _breath_ of the galaxy has been explored, its _depth_ still remains out of reach.
  * **Mihovsky Physics** : Element zero and the Mass Effect it creates. They serve as a ready made explanation for any wizz bang tech found in the series.
  * **Mr. Exposition** : Mr. Turok is a mild example, as he goes into an in depth discussion with Theo of Ms.Dantius' family background.
  * **My Greatest Failure** : Only Pasha seems free of this, but that may be because he is still relatively young. Galeena mentions that a reason a lot of Asari don't make it to Matriarch is because they collect to many of these to live past the Matron stage.
  * **No Such Thing as Alien Pop Culture** : Averted, hard. One news report lists a series of upcoming movie releases that include human/turian productions, krogan documentaries, and a "Quarian New Wave" of holographic cinema. Also, ELO (short for **E** njoys the **L** aughter of **O** thers) is a popular hanar stand-up comic.
  * **Oddly Small Organization** : T-R Security has a very small executive board/command crew considering it has at least a headquarters building in Bekenstein (a hub of intergalactic trade), contracts across the Verge/Terminus systems, a small fleet of warships and one or more wings of small craft. Then again, compared to say the Alliance Military or the turian forces, they are practically tiny.
  * **Oh Crap!** What is written in Mr. Andorff's face when he realized who survived the attack on the Steiner estate.
  * **Older Than They Look** : Applies to almost everybody in universe do to advances in medicine. Theo is in his mid forties yet runs and guns like someone half his age.
  * **Old-School Dogfights** : Several in atmospheric conditions (Bekenstein and Camala) but averted in others mostly due to the distances involved and the lack of fighter cover by one of the combatants. Rodan does mention that shooting down an unarmed shuttle is easy, but forcing it down without destroying it is extremely hard.
  * **Omnicidal/Homicidal/Suicidal Maniacs** : The batarian terrorist are hell bent on killing anyone that gets in their way, their way been to kill anyone who opposes the return of the "gods in dark spaces". That includes biological experimentation on hundreds of human captives (captured during slave raids no less) to produce biological WMD that can kill every human on a planet.
  * **Once is Not Enough** : Even rocket fire can't bring a krogan down, as the batarian mercs learned the hard way when Mr. Turok's injury induced blood rage kicked in.
  * **One World Order** : Humanity has not reached this point yet, but the Alliance government seems to have gained even more power after the war with the Reapers and is poised to unify humanity under its banner.
  * **Orbital Bombardment** : Played painfully straight as seen in post-invasion landscape of Camala. Other planets have recovered but it has taken years to do so with lingering socioeconomic effects.
  * **Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions** : There is a trend toward this, but some species still cling to their beliefs (the hanar) and others use it to justify war on others (batarian terrorist). The latter gets called out for being extremist but not strictly speaking for being religious.
  * **Overly Long Name/Spell My Name With An S** : Theodore Thompson-Ramos. He insist on the use of both names and they are always hyphenated. A carry over from his Puerto Rican roots. Often referred to as Colonel by people under his command or officials and Theo for close friends.
  * **Parental Abandonment** : Galaxy wide, due to the Reaper Invasion, but Theo's parents died before the war and Galeena's are not mentioned.
  * **Playing With Syringes** : The batarian terrorist in order to perfect a blood plague designed to kill humans.
  * **Population Control** : Part of the post war agreement with the krogan includes measures to control their **Explosive Breeder** tendencies.
  * **Power Glows** : Galeena glows blue when engaging her biotics.
  * **Punch Clock Villains** : The batarian slavers start like this, but quickly escalate into a deadly threat.




End file.
